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News of Vaccine Will Not Stop Schmallenberg Monitoring

SCOTLAND - Having access to a vaccine for the Schmallenberg virus will not mean a let up in monitoring the disease in the dairy herd, NFU Scotland has announced.

Official Veterinary Medicines Directorate Approval means that the new MSD Animal Health, 'Bovilis SBV vaccine is available on the market.

The news of the vaccine was announced ealier this week and is welcome news in the battle against a virus which has led to more than 1750 cases in the UK, despite not being known three years ago.

Impacr north of the border has been limited by cold weather, impeding the movement of the SBV spreading midges into Scotland, but Nigel Miller has announced that SBV monitoring efforts will continue.

"We will continue to monitor our network of dairy herds across Scotland to track the spread of SBV to allow farmers and vets the chance to plan their strategies for dealing with the disease," said Mr Miller. “The first results from our ongoing surveillance of dairy herds across Scotland suggests that the vast majority of our livestock remain naive to SBV. Cold weather ensured that the virus only made sporadic incursions into South West Scotland last winter."

Mr Miller also credited scientists and licensing authorities for moving so quickly in the development of a vaccine.